BJP slams Congress for disrupting parliament

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday criticised the Congress for disrupting the monsoon session of parliament even though the government has agreed to hold a debate on the issues agitating the main opposition.

“The position of the Congress keeps changing. The confusion created by the Congress is prevailing and people of India (are) being denied a meaningful parliament session,” BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman said here.

The statement came ahead of an all-party meeting scheduled for Monday. “When offered a debate, they run away… come up with new demands,” she said.

Sitharaman said the Congress was scared of the good performance during the previous parliament session (Budget session) when productivity of both houses was recorded above 100 percent.

“In the last session, the productivity was 123 percent in the Lok Sabha, and the Rajya Sabha also had more than 100 percent productivity. Congress is afraid of this… they don’t want success of government in parliament,” Sitharaman said.

She also said that if the opposition wanted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on some issue, they must start a debate, and the prime minister may intervene.

The monsoon session of parliament, that began July 21, has so far not been able to transact any major business due to repeated adjournments. It is scheduled to last till August 13.

Some opposition parties, led by the Congress, have been creating ruckus over alleged help extended to former IPL chief Lalit Modi by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, and on the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh in which over 40 people have died under mysterious circumstances and the Supreme Court has handed over the probe to the CBI.